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Konnected Minds Podcast
Konnected Minds: Success, Wealth & Mindset. This show helps ambitious people crush limiting beliefs and build unstoppable confidence.
Created and Hosted by Derrick Abaitey
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Konnected Minds Podcast
Building a Life and Business in Ghana: A 30-Year Journey
What happens when life takes you thousands of miles from home to a country you never planned to stay in? For Jolanda, what began as a four-year assignment in Ghana with her husband and young children in 1995 transformed into a 30-year journey of building a life, family, and thriving business in West Africa.
Her story begins with culture shock – the crowded airport, the unfamiliar sounds of frogs in drainage gutters, and the simplicity of life in 1990s Accra. Yet within these challenges, she discovered the warmth of Ghanaian people and opportunities that wouldn't have been possible in her native Italy. As Jolanda navigated motherhood in a foreign country, she progressed from administrative roles at the British High Commission to leadership positions in Ghana's growing real estate sector.
The turning point came unexpectedly in 2014 when a breast cancer diagnosis forced her to resign from her position. Instead of retreating, she used this challenging period to envision her future, founding Akka Kappa Limited while recovering. Her company now manages over 1,300 property listings and has earned international recognition for excellence.
What sets Jolanda's approach apart is her unwavering commitment to customer experience. She shares candid insights about the challenges of maintaining high standards in a service business, the importance of continuous staff training, and how passion must be paired with discipline for success. Her observations about workforce development in Ghana are particularly valuable for anyone building teams in emerging markets.
Beyond business wisdom, this conversation reveals profound truths about family, resilience, and creating opportunity. From raising multilingual children to navigating healthcare challenges abroad, Jolanda demonstrates how adversity can become a catalyst for growth. Her advice to follow your passion resonates whether you're considering an international move or simply facing a career crossroads.
Subscribe to Konnected Minds Podcast for more stories of resilience and entrepreneurship from visionaries shaping business landscapes around the world. Join us at our first live event on August 29th at the British Council – details in the description below.
Watch the video episode of this on YouTube - https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds
I've never gone outside Europe. It was my first time in Africa. It was really a bit of an adventure. The first impression that I had was how there were so many people sitting on the ground outside the airport. You could be standing here and see the people arriving there, collecting the suitcases and get out Something that you wouldn't see in Europe or another part of the world. When I came to Ghana, the idea was to stay for four years. My husband was the project manager for the Ridge Tower and at that time there was nothing in Ridge other than the city house and the total house. The rest was bush.
Speaker 3:There must have been a moment in your time here where you were thinking ah, maybe I want to go.
Speaker 1:Well, if you look at Ghana in 1995, when I came, and where we are today, there are so many opportunities, everything is so simple and you clink with people with no problems, while in Europe or in Italy it takes more time before you make friends, before somebody trusts you, and so on. One of the biggest positives about Ghana are the Ghanaian people.
Speaker 3:Hello, and welcome to another episode of Connected Minds Podcast, where we delve into the stories of visionaries shaping the business landscape. Today, we have the privilege of speaking with Jolanda, a trailblazer who transformed her journey from a foreigner in Ghana to a leading figure in the country's real estate sector. In 1995, jolanda relocated to Ghana with her family, embracing a new culture and environment. Starting her career in real estate as a novice, she gained invaluable experience working with a prominent firm. By 2015, her entrepreneurial spirit led her to establish Akakapa Limited, a dynamic real estate agency in Accra. Under her leadership, akakapa has grown to manage over 1,300 property listings, offering services that range from sales, letting, relocation, management and then also consultancy. Yolanda's dedication and innovation approach has earned her the recognition, including the International Property Award for Best Real Estate Agency single office in Ghana. Her story is one of resilience, adaptation and visionary leadership.
Speaker 3:Join us today as we explore her journey, the challenges she overcame and the insights she is offering to aspiring entrepreneurs. Remember, this lady moved to Ghana 30 years ago. She has made it work all these years. Now today's conversation is really to delve into what she has gone through over the years. What can you learn from her? Sit with me and do not change the screen. My name is Derek Abayte. Thank you, jolanda, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for accepting to sit with me.
Speaker 1:No, I say thank you I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:As I say, anytime I reach out to a guest and they spend time with me, I'm always ready to learn, always ready to listen, and I appreciate it so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're welcome. I hope I'll be able to share some information that are helpful for you and for others.
Speaker 3:Amazing. So that post I saw on LinkedIn where they mentioned that you had been in Ghana for the past 30 years and you didn't just, you know, come to the country, you decided to also set up a business that support people to relocate as well. Yeah, and I thought that was beautiful. Take me through your story.
Speaker 1:Well, when I came, when we came, my husband and I and the children at that time I was not working, of course, right, and my husband was born in Nigeria. He's Italian, but he was born in Nigeria, so Africa was already in the in the picture. And he had already worked in Ghana for a few years, between 87 to 89, and, yes, no, 85 to 89. And we decided, okay, let's go to Ghana, let's hope that there are more opportunities there for us compared to what we have in a small village. It was a bit of a jump in the dark can I call it like that, because I've never gone outside Europe. It was my first time, you know, in Africa, and with two little ones, eduardo was three and Elisa was six months. So it was really a bit of an adventure. And when I came to Ghana, the idea was to stay for four years.
Speaker 1:My husband was the project manager for the Ridge Tower, where now Fidelity Bank is, and at that time there was nothing in Ridge other than the city house and the total house. The rest was bush on that side. You know where the Ridge business district is. And so we came for that project thinking that we'll stay four years. But then Jimmy was asked to do another project, then go and work on a crusher for one of the mines in Bogoso.
Speaker 1:So we, from Accra, we moved to Tarqua, and Accra was the civilized part of the world at that time, which cannot be compared to Accra today. And that was really more of an adventure, because there was nothing, there was nobody. It was me and the children and my husband. My husband was working 12 to 18-hour shifts every day of the week because the crash had to be completed within a certain date, and but we always said that the family stays together. Where one goes, everybody goes, and and that made us stronger as a family, right, and so that's what brought us to Ghana, thinking we'd stay four years. But then, one contract after the other, we stayed and we started rooting.
Speaker 3:So this is your concept about the family stays together, right, and one person moves and the others would have to follow. Yes, how did you come up with that? It's so beautiful. Yes, how did you come up with that?
Speaker 1:It's so beautiful. Well, first of all, I strongly believe in the family and I think that when a couple is successful, as a couple, you can achieve so much together, right, but a couple to be successful is not just the love that you have. In the beginning, everything is, you know, a lot of passion and a lot of emotion. But then, as you go through life, challenges come in and difficulties, other people interfere, and so on. We always say this is our family, this is what we have to build, to grow together, to make sure that our children are the best extension of ourselves. And so that's one of the reasons why and at that time we were not very popular we didn't want to send our children to boarding school. We kept the children here after university, all right, because we believe.
Speaker 1:So the university they went to the Us, right, but they studied in ghana. So um, when eduardo finishes a levels, he went to um. He was admitted in several universities, but he chose the us. So we went to study in providence at brown university andisa same story, but she was admitted at the Savannah School of Art and Design in Georgia. And that's when we said the children now are ready to go.
Speaker 1:The education is not. In our opinion, education is not just what you get from the school that's very important but what you as a parent can give your children in terms of value, in terms of understanding what life is and how you see things, is very important. And if you let the children leave too early, you'll not be able to give. This is our opinion and I'm not saying ours is right, but that's how we believed. So we always wanted to be together and for us, the father comes home in the evening, spends time with the children. Saturdays and Sundays are family time. Yes, there can be a birthday party, no problem, but for children to go with their friends, but always come back home. The family does something together during the weekend. So our spirit has always been to make sure that we as a family are very strong together. Right, and now that you make me go through this.
Speaker 3:Maybe that's the reason why both my children came back from the us so they went back, they went to school, they went to school, and now they've come back.
Speaker 1:Eduardo worked for four years in the us. He had a very nice job, but then they came back to ghana both of them. So eduardo works with us in the US. He had a very nice job and then they came back To Ghana Both of them. So Eduardo works with us in the company and Elisa has a family and she has her own business.
Speaker 3:So that's amazing.
Speaker 1:I'm blessed. Maybe you don't believe, but I have children here and grandchildren, so the grandchildren are also in Accra, so I'm blessed.
Speaker 3:You are certainly blessed If I take you back to when you first came in. The kids were going to school in Accra. Yeah. Then you had to move to Tarqua.
Speaker 1:Right, not quite. So we went to Tarqua when Eduardo was five, turning five, so that year he couldn't go to kindergarten. They were still in the kindergarten. He was still in kindergarten in Accra when we moved to Tarco and Elisa was still not going because she was too little, and so in that period I was teaching the children Italian and then I had so much time there was nobody to meet, nobody to play with, so I was the teacher, the one who was playing with them, and so on.
Speaker 1:In Tarqua we were living in the Manganese Mine guest house. It's a huge, I would say call it estate, scattered houses here and there, but most of the people living there were either bachelors or, you know, husband and wife, but of a different generation. So there was no way really to connect for the children. So I was everything for them. So that's when I spent my time to start teaching them Italian, them. So that's when I spent my time to start teaching them Italian and I actually teach them Italian through. They did the exam in Italy for class 5, which is, you know, like from here, is from 6 in GIS, class 5 in in Italy. So they, with that one, if we had to go back to Italy and they had to resume and to start schooling in Italy. They could resume from Form 7, for instance. Imagine which for us is prima media.
Speaker 3:You learned that the standard of living. What was the impression when you first came in?
Speaker 1:I always have a funny story about that, because when we landed in Accra, the airport was not what we have now the airport.
Speaker 1:You could be standing here and see the people arriving there, collecting the suitcases and get out. So it was a very small airport and the belt where your suitcases were coming was just by the entrance. And then you walk out, and so the first impression that I had was how there were so many people sitting on the ground outside the airport, all these alaji, probably changing, but at that time I didn't know where they were, the alajis and so on.
Speaker 1:So that was my first impression, something that you wouldn't see in Europe or another part of the world. And then, when I was taken to the house, I remember the compound was dark and there was this very strong noise and I asked my husband what is this going on here? I was, you know, around the house there was a gutter and a drain and the frogs there were so many frogs. I arrived, I believe it was raining season because it was the 30th of april in 1995 and I remember these frogs don't worry, they are just frogs anyway, these the whole night. I still remember them. So the standard of life was different, right, in the sense that at that time Ghana was Accra, accra, not Ghana. Why.
Speaker 1:It was way simpler than it is now, in the sense that you know it was a simple life. You didn't have so many expectations Now. You have so much for entertainment, restaurants, all what you want in Accra you can get. At that time there was nothing. Supermarkets were not well furnished, Restaurants were very limited in number. There was no recreational activities at all. Nothing, there was nothing. So our recreation was Tizano Sport Club.
Speaker 3:Wow, you know, at that time, if you were telling somebody about what he had just seen in Africa, that statement you would have made, and what you will today, to tell that person that there are opportunities in. Africa. What would it have been at that time and now?
Speaker 1:So well now, the opportunities were also at that time, for sure, but probably it would have taken a longer time to succeed, maybe because still, you know, 30 years ago the economic situation maybe it wasn't so promising. It's not promising here as well. We are not in the best of times. But on the other side, when you look around, you see people are spending, see people are, things are happening. So what would have been my?
Speaker 3:um, I don't know how to answer to this, so pick up the phone and talk to me right.
Speaker 1:The first month of moving to Ghana right, so right, maybe maybe at that time I was, I was young, number one and no, no, no, no. Can I start again? Yeah, of course, at that time I was younger and less wise and I was a mother, so I didn't see things from a business perspective right. But maybe because of my family situation when I was young, when I was living with my parents, I adapt very easily to things. I don't see the challenge itself, I see the solution to the challenge, and when I was saying that life in Ghana at the time was much simpler, I really mean it. You know, very basic. For instance, I came in my house, we were brought by the company and nothing was missing, but it was very basic.
Speaker 1:Now, when an expat comes to Ghana, the expectations are way higher. The quality of life has changed and the expectations have changed. So, to answer to you, I would have not been able to give to someone the feedback of if you come to Ghana, there are these opportunities, but I'm in Ghana, I'm happy here, the weather is always nice, the people are so friendly and everything is so simple, and you clink with people with no problems, while in Europe or in Italy it takes more time before you make friends before somebody trusts you and so on, and I think one of the biggest positives about Ghana are the Ghanian people. That's what stays with you, all right.
Speaker 3:Talk to me about that.
Speaker 1:So Ghanians are very friendly. From the start. You don't feel they are. You know you have to be trying to make friends. They are open, like you. Here we have been able to immediately establish a connection. It's not to the same level with everybody, but it is common.
Speaker 1:The second thing I say generously despite hardship, ghanaians are happy people and I want to give you an example. If you go to Europe I use Italy as an example because I'm Italian and we are known to be very open, very passionate, very friendly things have changed anyway. People have changed in the past 30 years, in my opinion, but you don't have that level of confidence, that level of friendship that you can feel. Not friendship. I was going to say easy to connect. It's not easy to connect and people tend to be mostly grumpy. Okay, and I always use this example when I see a grumpy face and say what are you complaining about? If you are in Ghana, what a good number of Ghanaians go through you can't imagine, and that's why they are looking at other opportunities. You know, in other countries and I use the example of those are the traffic lights, maybe on the skateboards or on the wheelchair, that they come up to you and they still smile at you.
Speaker 1:Yes, right and they always try to have a word with you. So, madam, how are you today? And how are the children always forget about that. You will not get this somewhere else, so it's, it's within the guinean you know to be, be to welcome you, to establish a connection with you, to make you feel good. Maybe not everybody, but that's how I see the Ghanaian and I think in general, it's a common spread feeling that that's how Ghanaians are. So I think that's what the first impression I would say to someone about Ghana. And then the second thing the weather. The first impression I would say to someone about Ghana. And then the second thing the weather. The third thing I would say the mango. They are so sweet.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, but now it's about and I always say it If you look at Ghana in 1995, when I came, and where we are today and that's how we started the conversation earlier there are so many opportunities in this country. Okay, look at how of the growth in the past 10 years, how many things have happened. How many? I'm not saying the economy is is fantastic. Yes, it's difficult, there are a lot of issues, but people are trying to make things happen here, and so much. You are an example, right. So many things that people don't even know are available in Ghana, right, and the health system has improved. Okay, let's also put it this way Not for everyone.
Speaker 1:Not everything is accessible to everyone, but I think at all levels things have improved at all levels at all levels.
Speaker 1:So let's use another example. I don't know if it's yes, I want to use this example. When I came to ghana, public transport was the majority on the car, on the on the roads okay, right, the famous trot draw with the wooden writing the writing on the roads. Okay, right, the famous trot-troll with the wooden writing the writing on the wooden. How do you say back? Or the small vans? That was the majority. And taxi the yellow. Remember the yellow and brown taxis?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yellow and brown.
Speaker 3:I've seen pictures of those.
Speaker 1:That was the majority. Then start about 20 years ago. You start seeing more private cars, More and more and more. Now what's the majority on the roads? Private, cars.
Speaker 1:So first we get a car, then gets a house, and that's what's happening, because everybody has a car and everybody's trying to build something to have their own place. So that's a sign of growth, so at all levels. So those, let's say that we have a huge young population right in Ghana and that's there is a lot of unemployment. But you have no idea the potential of that, because outside in the Western world we have a huge old population. We need the young population. So now how to combine that, how to get the young population to be able to get opportunities and opportunities for those people, also from Ghana, because now there is more interest in tech savvy youngsters that can provide a service from here for companies that are outside.
Speaker 3:You know you speak very well about us Ghanians. This question is do you think you are treated slightly different because you're Oberoni, compared to maybe the regular Ghanaian, the native Ghanaian or the Ghanaian Boga? You see what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1:Yes, I see what you're trying to say. Well, it is possible. But I want to say also that a lot of Obruni, they feel the same and that's why either they stay or they ask to be sent back at the end of the post. I know a lot of them. So it is possible. It is possible that among yourselves, ghanaians among themselves are not. Maybe, but I don't believe so.
Speaker 1:I see in the office among the staff, even when I'm not part of conversations, how things work. There is always somebody with a different personality. That's normal, but in general that's the nature, yeah.
Speaker 3:Let me stop you here for a minute. If you've been watching this show, I want you to subscribe and become part of the family. We are on a journey of changing the lives of people on this channel and we appreciate you for being here, but if you haven't become part of the family, connect with us. Hit the subscribe button Now. Let's carry on the conversation. There must have been a moment in your time here being a parent as well, with your own kids where you were thinking ah maybe I want to go back.
Speaker 1:Well, it's true there have been times where I thought I was going to go back because at certain times maybe the children need a better education, or maybe when they go to university. But life made it in a different way, because when children were in school I was working at the British Air Commission and at that time I was locally engaged because, of course, I'm Italian, so they wouldn't like me from the foreign office, right. So I was locally engaged and it was a perfect job because I would start at 8 o'clock, I've already dropped the children, I finish at 2 o'clock, I pick them up, we go home, and they were in good schools in Ghana, Because, of course, as an expat, you have certain benefits that the company helps you with certain things, like the school, the rent or the medicals, for instance. I would say that, more than the children, what sometimes I thought I would have to go back is for health reasons, Because if you have a serious illness and I did, my husband also had Ghana, especially 10 years ago, was still not prepared.
Speaker 1:Now things are improving. So in that situation, in that circumstances, I said, okay, we'll have to go back. Luckily, we were able to resolve things, get better and come back and now when I look at it, I say you know what Italy has to offer to me for a general, let's say generic, health issue? Ghana can offer me the same, so there is no need to travel back. And other things happen, we'll see.
Speaker 3:Thank God. Thank God, yes, we're in East Ligon right now. Yeah. A few minutes away from Trazaco. I want you to take your mind back 25, 30 years ago. How? Was the situation around here, just give me a vivid imagination of how these areas were.
Speaker 1:So I actually lived in.
Speaker 1:Trazaco yeah, from 2004 to 2008, if I'm not wrong, and I was moving from Tesano in a very simple house, not nice but not anything special, to a Trazaco house, and we all know what Trazaco is like. I never felt home. The house was beautiful, the garden was very, very large. Felt home. The house was beautiful, the garden was very, very large. I never felt home because the houses are so big and I didn't have that sense of coziness I'm used to because I'm Italian and because I'm half Dutch. So you know, in Holland everything is, every corner in the houses is taken, so I never felt that sense of warmth and coziness that that I like in house. But that said, trazaco is beautiful and it's really, um, it was really nice place to, to, to living, especially with the children. They could go out and, you know, around with the bicycle or go for a walk or walk the dogs.
Speaker 1:But from Trazaco coming to Accra, there there was nothing. The road was bad and I remember when we started hearing that the Accra mall, the ANC mall, would open Wow, we will have a supermarket closed by. Only then. Then you realize that the supermarket is not a walking distance. There was nothing If I had forgotten to buy breads or sugar. I had to drive all the way at that time to Max Mart at 37, or Koala in Osu. Imagine Also supermarket. There weren't so many as there are now. If you needed anything urgent in a pharmacy, the closest pharmacy was inside East Legon and there were just a few, so otherwise you have to go to airport Clinic. There was nothing here, there was really nothing, so it was it was Tesano in the end was better served. Okay.
Speaker 1:Right, yes. Or let's say, closer in a sense, to the main amenities of the city. So there was nothing. And now, when you come here every week, you see a change in this Lagon. You see new shops, new supermarket. Oh, they are tearing that road. It wasn't tired and you know, it's incredible how it is developing. In my opinion, I don't think I've seen anything of this in any travels outside Ghana that I did Go to the US, go to Italy, go to Europe Everything is already developed. So there is a huge gentrification happening in cantonment, in airport, and new developments here in Estragon Development, commercial, residential, so a lot going on.
Speaker 3:And then the time came where you said you wanted to start your own business.
Speaker 1:Right, let me explain what happened, because I think I need to go back a little bit. So when I was at the British High Commission, I thought that was my comfort zone. It was a comfort zone. I thought that was my, you know, comfort zone, it was a comfort zone. But then I realized that there was no room for to advance in career, right. So first I was data entry. From data entry you pass to the next level. So I was in charge of the general office, so overseeing data entries from other staff.
Speaker 1:Then I was moved to registry and appeals and I finally landed to visa writing office, which is the top. But then, after I think it was about two years in visa writing, you can't see passport and visas anymore. I said I need something else. So I resigned and I said, okay, I want to start studying french and see if other opportunities come my way. But after two months I got an opportunity to work at Villaggio as head of sales and marketing for Villaggio Primavera, which was the first project. And at the beginning I was alone, I didn't have a team and I was just doing the sales. Then, as we started selling well and so on, the team grew, I had new staff joining and then I thought that was my perfect job and I loved it.
Speaker 1:I really did it as if it was my own business because I put passion in what I do and I worked there for eight years. I really did it as if it was my own business because I put passion in what I do right, and I worked there for eight years. And never in my life I would have thought that I would have resigned. But July 2014 comes and I was already suspecting something. But I found out that I had breast cancer. So when that happened, I had to take a bold decision to resign and look after myself, because the way I was running the business not running the business, but the way I was involved in the sales department was so deep that I couldn't say, oh, it doesn't matter, I can take one year off, and they can. You know, everything stays in my mind and I would always be concerned that that guy hasn't signed the contract, the other one hasn't paid, I have to call.
Speaker 1:I needed to just cut completely and focus on myself, because having a cancer affects you also mentally not only physically, but mentally and so I resigned and, despite the very challenging situation I was in, that started growing in me the need to have something to look out for in the future for myself. And and so probably even before not not probably before coming to Ghana, I was thinking what can I do when I go back? I don't want to be a housewife, because when you are home you have time to think, and when you go through some difficult situations like a cancer, thinking is not good, thinking about it is not good. So I needed something that gave me, you know, a reason every morning to wake up and be busy.
Speaker 1:And, and life brought two things to my way. One was, um, looking for, you know, setting up a small business, a part-time job, so I have time, time for myself, time for the family, but I can still be busy. So I was thinking about, you know, what do I do? I didn't know yet until I came here. And the other thing is a bit more shocking at that time, but it was the biggest blessing my daughters came to me and said I was just home from the hospital and says I think I'm pregnant Ayuto. That was a shock. So initially it was not easy to digest, but then I realized that I realized because somebody helped me realize and that that was a blessing.
Speaker 1:So I had two things to look out for Eliza, and that that was a blessing. So I had two things to look out for Karim, who was going to, was due to arrive to be born in in March, and and then this idea of having my business. And so I started being busy preparing for this little one, coming and helping my daughter and so on, and I came back to Ghana in November, then I went back and then I was back in Italy and then I came back with my daughter when the baby was born, and permanently, and that's already. I was preparing, I want to do something of my own and I started meeting with some of my dear clients that I had at Villaggio and Trasaco and I said, in your opinion, what can I do? Because of course I consulted my husband and we already had a plan, but I wanted somebody to confirm that I was going the right direction and they would say no, no, no, do that, because that's what you're good at and I'm sure you will succeed.
Speaker 1:So I started akakapa as a small letting agency just helping expats find a home in ghana and settle right, and I had already a few properties through to these landlords and clients that I had initially, and others then joined, and so the passion was to help these people make Ghana feel like home, and probably I managed to do that because I always have this, you know, enthusiasm about Ghana, about how things are here. There are a lot of challenges. I'm not saying that everything is easy. Challenges across across, you know. Staff adapting to the weather can be a challenge for people, and so on, but in general, I see the positive side and that's what I bring to the table and and and. So now I I spoke very long and I don't remember where the question was, but I told you the story of how I started at CACAPA and how it's just by coincidence, I would have not resigned if I didn't get the cancer.
Speaker 1:So you know. And then that's where my how can I say? I have this motto that when something happens, even the worst thing is because something good will happen after. So yeah, it was. I must admit it was intense and it was a year, and that was when I turned 50. So it was my 50th birthday, it was my 25th wedding anniversary and it was also the worst year of my life because I discovered that. But again, you know, I am blessed that I'm here to tell this story and I advocate and I always make sure that I spread the voice about cancer and how women and men as well, should always do the checkups often enough, yearly at least, because early detection is key. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:Then your company Akakapa. How did you discover more opportunities? Outside of what? You already knew through your network.
Speaker 1:Well, when you are in business or at least for me my mind is always looking for something right. I'm always looking first of all, I'm always looking how can I do best what I do? I can do better what I'm doing, and that's a positive. It's also a negative, right, because in a way, it bogs me down, because if I see, like before coming here there was a problem with something, I call all the team and I said this was wrong, we should have done it this way. Can we, from now on, use this new system in doing the same thing right?
Speaker 1:And I expect it in a way that relates to Aka Kappa? So, even when you write a letter, it has to be in a format and in a way that speaks for exactly represent the company, and this is not something that you can expect your team to know. You have to keep talking about, you have to keep building in them how a kakapa is and how you expect them to be able to deliver to that standard. Whether it is a letter, or how you take a call or how you deal with a client. There is a level of expectation our clients have and there's a level of expectation that I built, so in the end it's my fault, because when I deal with you as a client, I put all my best in right and because it's my business, and I think it has also to do because of the way I am. So I try to be.
Speaker 3:But you also find that that becomes an edge on its own.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 3:And because sometimes what we see here in many you know Ghanaian companies is that they don't go that extra mile to take care of their customers.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:So if one person decides to put their all in that business, they get a lot of clients, because that's what people want, the expectation and experience that people. It's the experience.
Speaker 1:There you go, it's the experience and this is something that I frequently use with staff when I'm talking about customer experience, something that I frequently use with staff.
Speaker 1:When I'm talking about customer experience, you know, when you go in and I use the shop or in a restaurant and the shop attendant or the waiter goes the extra mile and make sure that you have a good experience, that you're happy. There is not it's nothing special, but it's just to show that you're doing your best for that person. I will go back to that restaurant or to that shop just because of that. Sometimes it's more the experience than how nice the restaurant is or how good the food is, and the same in the shop. So when I go to a supermarket and I go to the counter, I always go to the counter where the lady is friendly and she talks to me in a better way or she's more helpful. You know, it's natural you are drawn by that because you make a better connection In customer service, in customer experience.
Speaker 1:There is so much to do, so many opportunities in Ghana, because I think the people are ready to learn to do so many opportunities in Ghana, because I think the people are ready to learn. Only that there isn't enough training in that.
Speaker 3:Let me stop you here for a minute. If you've been watching this show, I want you to subscribe and become part of the family. We are on a journey of changing the lives of people on this channel and we appreciate you for being here, but if you haven't become part of the family, connect with us. Hit the subscribe button Now. Let's carry on the conversation. What are you doing differently?
Speaker 1:from what I'm supposed to do for my company, so I can learn Right. So, first of all, are you referring to customer care or in general, yes customer care.
Speaker 1:You don't, though we would want to say I trained you to do this and now you know how to do it. You have to handle it yourself, you have to keep training, you have to keep monitoring, you have to keep insisting, and the reason is so. If you work at a kakapa, you work in a nice environment, air-conditioned, people around you are friendly and so on, and you are expected at a certain level. The moment you get out, you are maybe going into public transport, you are going to the market, so your standard of expectation drops, isn't it? If you are in a public transport, you don't expect their condition, you don't expect the mate to be polite, or when you go to the market, you know that it comes with some challenges. So you, as the user, drop your level of expectation. And it's not right for me to expect all the times that, when you come back into the Aka Kappa environment, where everything is neat, the condition is on, everything is in place and so on, you bring up your level again. So it's a continuous. You know making sure that they are clear with the standard. That's number one.
Speaker 1:When there are challenges with clients stepping and help, don't expect that your employee can handle all the challenges you and and that sometimes is very time consuming, but it is necessary you have to be able to step in and assist that member of staff in resolving the problem.
Speaker 1:So the next time something similar happens because there is no procedure or training that you can give, that has everything already in it Human situations where a client gets upset or you haven't said the right thing happen despite any training right. So you have to constantly bring in training and I think one. One other thing I do different is I bring the passion and I try so much to pass on my passion to my staff. It's not easy. It's the level of and I will say, is the level of energy that you give out that will give you something in return. So even when you are dealing with a client, if your level of energy is good, is positive, you positively charge the other person. The other person connects with you and then you go. But if he's dull, you are average, they will go with somebody who has better energy.
Speaker 3:I've learned so much. Okay. You know all those things you just said, I've just learned. I've learned so much, I mean. I think that's why usually for me, when I'm employing- I love people who are proactive. I just that's like my number one. You know, don't wait for things to all go bad before you start thinking. Somebody who? Can think on their feet. Think very quickly, act very quickly before problems start happening.
Speaker 3:You know, but you find that that level of quality is very low here and you have to keep going through CVs upon CVs and interviews upon interviews to get that quality. And even when you've gotten a CPDs KPIs, you just have to keep going.
Speaker 1:And this is a challenge that all employers have, and it's sad, it's really sad. Yesterday I was at the CEO summit at the Kempinski right, and so then you are there with other CEOs, other managing directors. They all share the same frustration, they all share the same frustration and you see, I think there are a lot of reasons why, and it's not only in Ghana, in my opinion Maybe it can be a bit more complicated here but it's also a generational problem, okay, okay. So yesterday one of my staff told me oh, I always listen to that podcast and that made me think. Podcast For this generation, podcast is like reading a book right, it's the way you learn, and for me it's still the book. Right, I still need to have the book in my hands to learn.
Speaker 1:For the new generations, the podcast is a different way of learning and I said, okay, so this maybe is one of those people that are maybe more into podcasts than on social media. The reason that I'm bringing this in is that I feel that the more we are on social media and the more shallow we are, because we keep scrolling, jumping from one thing to the other without going in depth. We love the news to be just headlines we don't go and read. So the headlines can be so deceiving because the way you put the words, but if you go in depth in reading an article, you know more, you understand better. So I think it's generational because of that, because social media doesn't help, and for Ghana, youth and I keep saying that when I employ people, so I employ for attitudes. Okay, right, Are you proactive? What is your energy? Are you? And they come very well prepared to the interviews and I'm sure it happened to you and to other employers.
Speaker 1:God, is it the same person that I interviewed? How come the output is so different? Sometimes I say it's the interview system. So we craft new questions and we make you do a test there and then we come up with some think on the spot, difficult questions and we still make the mistake. And it's sad because there is a, as I said, a high number of unemployed young people and they all deserve an opportunity. Right, you wish you could give everyone an opportunity. That's not possible. And then, when you realize that you made a mistake or that the person is not what you had expected, you have invested in that person because you have to give three months training before you are able to establish oh, it's not working right. So we introduced, for instance, last year apart from an hr.
Speaker 1:We are not a big company. But we said I can't handle all these children that I have here by myself and my husband and Eduardo. So we employed an HR and I must say it was a very good decision. But then we said, okay, we need to improve our training. So we have a person dedicated to training, only Specialized training throughout our processes. Three months of training, test training, test practice, this and that and that, and still.
Speaker 1:So I have a word for the young people listening to this it's on you to succeed. It's on you to be eager to learn. Come to a company. Say me Excel, I know it. Upside down. Every industry in any business. You need Excel. Say me excel, I know it. Upside down every industry in any business you need excel. You need to really know it. Don't say I know 60. When I look at it it's like god. Not even at the start you should be that low. You need to know how to use microsoft, all the microsoft applications. You need to be very conversant with ai. Now Come and show how good you are, and then you have an edge, because then you say, okay, this person has all what it takes to start. Well, but if I have to employ somebody that doesn't know how to use Excel, well, I have to start from the training, from very low, and so it takes longer for that person to be able to really be productive. That's the reason why I employ somebody to have something in return. Right, and that is what I see.
Speaker 1:There is no. Very, very few have that eagerness to learn. They can't prepare it, even if sometimes knowing how to use this application is more important than certain degrees, university degrees. And again, school is not preparing this generation to come to work. The national service is not preparing them. So we have national service that go out of here, from Aka Kappa, and they find a job right away, or they stay because they are good and we say please, now that you've learned, stay. We don't treat them as national service. Actually, by the way, I treat them much better. Yes, I make sure that.
Speaker 3:Some of the things you've mentioned here. If there's anyone that has watched this episode or listened to this episode up until this point, I think you need to rewind. You need to rewind it, maybe about 10 minutes. Right and then listen to it again, because I think this is the key. I have seen students who are learning how to use a computer simply by the teacher drawing it on the board. There's no practice, right? I remember sodium chloride experiment. I had to remember the formula. Yeah.
Speaker 3:There's no actual doing. That is happening Today, with the age of the internet. You can go on the internet with your phone and learn everything you need to know. Yeah, my son, six-year-old, knows how to use Excel. He can generate a bar chart, but then you have somebody that comes out of university and they struggle. Six-year-old knows how to use Excel. He can generate a bar chart, but then you have somebody that comes out of university and they struggle.
Speaker 1:So I need to take you back a little bit more. It comes from the family. If, in the family, from day one and I really mean day one you stimulate your children in learning and you talk to them as adults. I am doing this because, even like, let's switch the light on and you show them how to switch it on, how to switch it off from the very early stage, something that or you go up the stairs and you count with them, or you do things and you involve them in doing that. They are eager to learn, but if you keep telling your children, go in the other room, this is the room for the adults. What are they learning?
Speaker 1:So it is also the education, and I think the generation who raised these youngsters is the one that has been busy with work, trying to make a living and so on. They didn't have, they didn't understand, or they no, they didn't understand. I think the right word is they missed the importance of bringing up their children with you know the practical aspect of life, the learning, because everything that you learn is gold for you, because you're not leaving it to somebody else. It stays with you and you. The more you learn, the more you grow, the more you can do so many things.
Speaker 1:I I always say what you learn in Tanka Kappa, you've learned it here. You can take it everywhere. It's to high standard, but you have to learn it. You have to learn it and you will be richer and have more opportunities. So I think for me with little children, it's there that you start to grow their minds. You can start growing a mind when you're in university. That's to start from when you're little. So if your child wants to use the iPad or the computer to learn how to use applications, let him be. If it's too long on iPad on games, take it, throw it and let the person play. The little child play with Lego or do other things that are creative. Make them think how do I, I want to do that, how do I do it? And you have to think and that's how.
Speaker 3:And come up with ideas. Exactly.
Speaker 1:So I feel that that's one of the problems that we have. That's why.
Speaker 3:If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self what would it?
Speaker 1:be, Well, so again we go back to our parents, right? If I could give a piece of advice, I would say I should have left home earlier. I left home quite early, but not early enough, and I should have imposed myself to my father. My father was an Italian, old-fashioned Italian macho, so he is the boss in the family. He knows what is right for you.
Speaker 1:My passion was to study medicine, become a pediatrician. I always loved children and I thought that's what I want to do, and if I had done that, maybe I would have not come to Ghana and things would have been different. But in Ghana I would have made a good living because it's a profession, but not only in Ghana anywhere. And so my father would not allow my mom to speak Dutch in the family, so I didn't speak a second language at home, while my children speak. Eduardo speaks four languages and Elisa speaks three, including three, so, which I sorry, I have to admit I don't speak very bad, but I ended up working in only English-speaking environments and it was not Anyway.
Speaker 1:So I would say to the youngest myself impose yourself. If you know that that's your passion, fight Really, fight for it. And if I have to give the same advice to parents let your children do what their passion is. Don't tell them oh, I'm a lawyer, you should be a lawyer, I'm a doctor, you should be a doctor. Let them follow their passion. They will do much better in life.
Speaker 3:I love that statement. I love it the last one you made, but you know you made a statement earlier when you mentioned that the parents were very busy trying to make ends meet for the family, so those same parents are now thinking to themselves if I let this guy follow his passion he might not be able to bring in the money to support the family. You see the way they're thinking.
Speaker 1:Oh no, absolutely. I'm also a parent like that.
Speaker 3:Right. So sometimes it's like they want to draw a line very quickly and say hey, I'm struggling at the moment to take care of you. Now I know one of our neighbors whose son is a doctor and he's making a good living for himself and taking care of his mom. So maybe for that reason I'm going to push this young boy to become a doctor by any means. So then it takes that boy away from what he really wants to do, and it's a difficult one, isn't?
Speaker 1:it. It is very much so as a parent. I always say that being a parent is the most difficult job yeah, they should have told us yeah no, but the good thing is that you learn on the job.
Speaker 1:That's true, that's true. So now, what I think is this so passion is what drives us to be the best, no matter which passion. If I have a passion for cooking and I love cooking for my family I will really make a good meal right, even if I'm not good. But with time I will learn and I will make sure, because it's in my passion, and I will do it best.
Speaker 1:You said you have a passion for this and you do it beyond what I was expecting to find right so the the parent has to be able to be so many things but also to read in the personality of the children and say, okay, the passion, this person is so good at that. If you want your child to be a doctor, and every time he scratches himself a little blood he faints, that person cannot be a doctor, right. So, yes, you can push, you can advise. I did advise my children, I did advise, but I advised, I guided. I didn't enforce, my father enforced.
Speaker 1:I didn't do what I liked in life. I would have never thought I would be a soul person. I would have never thought that I would end up in real estate. It was just, life happened and that's where I am. But my passion was not this then. That I put passion in what I do is a different thing. But if I had to do what I liked, it would have been something else. So me, to make ends meet, I am doing, or I started doing, things that I didn't have a passion for Right. Then it evolved and real estate is my passion. But it's a coincidence, I might have ended up being a shopkeeper.
Speaker 3:I get it, it makes sense.
Speaker 1:You see. So helping children find their passion and make sure the passion is not. You know there are so, and nowadays there are so many professions that you can do that are new. So technology, for instance, we should have started 10 years ago to push everybody into that Right as we are evolving. Research technology is still something, but there are so many professions. So not because you are a lawyer or your neighbor is a doctor, be a doctor, because that doctor, if he doesn't like it, will make so many people not survive.
Speaker 3:Yolanda, is there any question that I could have asked you today, that I didn't, that we could still talk about?
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, that is. You know I can talk forever, so that's me um questions. Well, maybe what we could touch on is on real estate, because and even yesterday people come, young people, come up to me in in real estate or working for and, yolanda, I would want you to be my mentor and and, honestly speaking, I don't have the time to be a mentor. I really don't, because real estate is so, oh, this business is so demanding. When you are into services, you are not selling an item to somebody and that person walks away with that item. In services, you have so much more work around it the way you establish the initial contact, the way you build a relationship, the way in our case then, the way you conduct the viewing, the way you follow up on the contract, and you have multiple parties involved, from a buyer to a seller or a tenant and a landlord, an artisan to do the works, and your staff to the. So, really, my day. I have applied for nine days a week and 30 hours a day, but God said I have to do with what he has given everybody else. The time is never enough.
Speaker 1:But what I want to say to all those who are out there who ask me you know, how can I make it to succeed? First of all, passion. You have to have a passion. Don't go into real estate just because you think it's money-making. It's a whole lot of hard work. You think it's money making, it's a whole lot of hard work. Second, and I think that works for any business, this and this the passion. And you have to be a workaholic.
Speaker 1:You cannot set up a business and not be, you know, into it all the times to make sure that gradually, you grow and you improve. You don't grow just by having more properties or more items to sell, right, you grow by improving the way you give your service. And to improve, you have to learn, you have to study, you have to put in place processes and procedures. There is so much around that and I feel that everybody thinks that real estate is so easy. It is so complicated and in Ghana it's even more complicated because of all.
Speaker 1:We know the challenges and you know, ensuring ownership, quality of construction, which is not always guaranteed, though now we see that. You know, skyline is changing, there are beautiful buildings coming up and definitely the standard is raising, I will say, but there is still a lot of, you know, wrongdoing on the market. So that's what I will say. Those who want to venture in real estate, they should do it right. They should just take the time first, learn and do one thing at a time and do it right with passion. I work very many hours so many hours, so yeah, Amazing.
Speaker 3:And now there are three favorite questions that we ask on this podcast. Usually in the end, right, but before I ask those questions on the 29th of august at the british council, uh, we're doing our first connected minds live event now it's going to be for only 250 people and all the details are going to be in the description. You can register and then we'll go through and see which people we think would benefit from the conversations we're going to have. My question to Yolanda is motivation or discipline.
Speaker 1:I know you have to have both. You definitely have to have both the passion and the motivation. I will consider the same If you are passionate, you are automatically motivated. And the discipline if you are not disciplined, you cannot put structure to what you do. So for the person, for the employer, the same way you have to motivate your staff, but you also have to give the discipline, and by discipline I mean the procedure, the process, the roadmap that takes that person to perform the task from here to there. But I can give you all the discipline that I have, but if you're not motivated you will not do it. And on the other hand, you can be so much motivated, but if I don't help you with the discipline, with the structure, you will not achieve. So the two go together Amazing.
Speaker 3:There's always a different perspective when we ask, and I've asked this question more than 120 times. I hope I answered the question.
Speaker 1:Oh no, you did. You certainly did.
Speaker 3:Now is the best advice you've ever received. Ha, Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:Right Three. Okay, the first one will be you shouldn't marry that man. So when I met my husband I want to be sure, because this is an answer. But when I met my husband, I met him on it was really a coincidence in Milan. He was coming from Ghana, I was coming from the eastern part of Italy at a birthday. I didn't know anybody there, I just knew somebody, only one person. He had a few friends there. So we meet at this birthday and it was the 7th of June.
Speaker 1:And then back right. In that way it was really um chemistry at the first, at the first um encounter, and then for a week I didn't sing, we only spoke on phone. My mother-in-law would say the biggest telephone bill I've ever seen in my life. And then when we met the second time, we met in his village, and not really his village. I was in charge of that area, so I went for some sales meeting and so on, and then he took me to his family and says you know, we are getting married Like that, I swear like that, and we are getting married at the end of the year. And of course I had agreed and so on.
Speaker 1:But then I rewinded a little bit and said maybe I should ask for some advice, and I couldn't. I was not in good terms, as you can imagine, with my father. So I had another person who was my mentor. Unfortunately, he passed away and I took Jimmy to him. So before I realized, this mentor took Jimmy on the side and started talking. I could see the two of them really talking deeply. I said, oh God. And then they come out from the room and he says you should really marry that young man.
Speaker 1:And I listened, right? So if I had an hesitation after the first, after the first, let's say decision, and that was the best advice in my life, right? So we are now married 30 years with jimmy and, um, yeah, we are blessed. No, I'm lying, I've been gone at 30 years, but I'm married 35 years sorry, 36 this year. And so that was the first, um, best advice. I will say. The second best advice was and this, this comes from Jimmy do something for yourself. If you want to set up your small company, go for it. You will do so well and we will grow the companies and so on. So these are the best two advices. I would have not done the second one without the first one.
Speaker 3:I love it. You know, whenever the advice is about marriage, I love it and I usually feel like let me turn off the cameras and turn off the audios and then so that I can carry on listening to the advice. Right, because 35 years of marriage, that's a lot of experience a lot we can learn from.
Speaker 1:Go back to passion, motivation and discipline. It also also works in in marriage and teamwork works in the marriage and teamwork, teamwork. And it's never always perfect, perfect, but if you teamwork, if you team together, you will resolve the problems.
Speaker 3:Love it, love it. The last question we have is recommend a book that our viewers listeners can also read can you pause and let me check?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, I read in Italian, so, and I don't read in English. I read in Italian, okay, and I read so many books that I wouldn't be able to A book about what? The question?
Speaker 3:About improvement self-improvement business a book about about what the question about improvement, self-improvement business, mindset, success and also because the titles are in Italian, so I will give you right, but I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't use one book alone for me, and and I'm I'm so hungry to always when I have a question. Now, char Gpt is my best.
Speaker 3:So, while Yolanda is getting as a book, have a look at this image. Those of you that did not see this image on LinkedIn, this is an image of her and the kids, right.
Speaker 1:Eduardo, yeah, and Elisa.
Speaker 3:Yeah, beautiful. We're going to try and put this on the introduction as well. It's just beautiful, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my husband took that picture. And that's where we were simple, right, yes, yeah, yeah, I wouldn't be able to give you one book in particular. Okay, no, I wouldn't be able to give a book in particular. Um, no, I wouldn't be able to give a book in particular, but I think, um, if I have to say self-improvement now, there is so much about self-improvement during covid, for instance is when I discovered um youtube for self-development.
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean it's like a never ending resource. But you need to also find what works for you, because there are certain books you start and you say this is not what works for me, and it's like sports. You may like golf, and if I play golf I'll beat you because I don't have the patience for this ball to go into the hole. My son plays golf. He's been playing golf since the age of nine. He's always had a chimota and that's his passion. For me, it's tennis, and I don't play anymore. So you know, it's not one book in particular that you can recommend, but reading. Reading, not scrolling is what I recommend.
Speaker 3:It's important, yeah, recommend, yeah, right. I'd like to say thank you so much once again for your time. You've shared so much. I've learned so much. I know these awesome people are gonna learn too.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate and okay it was. It was not something that you prepare for, right. It's something. Yes, you know, maybe you have an idea of which questions are coming your way, but I like the fact that it's a natural thing that you don't have to rehearse and come here with prepared questions, like when you are having a video, one of these real estate videos that I hate. So thank you very much. I am honored that I've been invited to this and I hope I've been helpful to somebody.
Speaker 3:You certainly have, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much Thank you Now.
Speaker 3:My name is Derek Abaiti and, like I always say, if you made it to the end, I want you to leave a comment below and let me know that you're one of those people. Stay connected, I'm out.